We watch as the jets fly in

       with the power people and

       the money people, 

       the suits, the budgets, the billions

We wonder about monetary policy

      because we are among the haves,

and about generosity

      because we care about the have-nots.

By slower modes we notice

     Lazarus and the poor arriving from [war torn countries],

     and the beggars from [Mexico and places further south], and

    the throng of environmentalists

    with their vision of butterflies and oil

                 of flowers and tanks

                of growing things and

                          killing fields

We wonder about peace and war

     about ecology and development

     about hope and entitlement

We listen beyond jeering protesters and

     soaring jets and

faintly we hear the mumbling of the crucified one

something about

     feeding the hungry

     and giving drink to the thirsty

     about clothing the naked

     and noticing the prisoners

      more about the least and about holiness among them

We are moved by the mumbles of the gospel

even while we are tenured in our privilege

We are half ready to join the choir of hope,

     half afraid things might change,

     and in a third half of our faith

        turning to you

     and your outpouring love

     that works justice and

     that binds us each and all to one another

We pray amid jeering protesters

     and soaring jets

Come by here and make new

     even at some risk to our entitlements.

–Walter Brueggemann, The Noise of Politics, “Prayers for a Privileged People,” p. 21